Distributed systems of computing resources are seeing more widespread use as they can often efficiently provide computing services to users who are geographically separated. Performance, reliability, and scalability are typically improved over what can be provided by non-distributed systems. Infrastructure can be deployed and load-balanced to distribute the handling of client requests, and redundant servers on separate machines may be utilized to ensure continuity of service in the event of faults.
Although many distributed systems perform well, system administration and maintenance can present significant challenges. Distributed systems are not always homogenous, and administrators can face a variety of issues relating to differing networking technologies and communication protocols, hardware architectures, operating systems, applications, performance characteristics, and other factors.
The deployment of needed or desired updates in distributed systems, for example, can often be particularly problematic. Current deployment techniques are typically focused on defining and then implementing steps to bring the distributed system to a desired state. The intended goal of software developers and system administrators is to reach the desired state by repeating the same steps to update each object in the distributed system (such as the servers, for example). However, implementation of these methodologies can be time consuming and may be prone to human error. In addition, the aforementioned non-homogeneity of many distributed systems can limit the effectiveness of the methodologies. Such shortcomings may be compounded as the distributed system continues to get updated with each new release.
This Background is provided to introduce a brief context for the Summary and Detailed Description that follow. This Background is not intended to be an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter nor be viewed as limiting the claimed subject matter to implementations that solve any or all of the disadvantages or problems presented above.